[Moogs]

Some recent viewings I thought I'd share...

Little Miss Sunshine
What a cool movie. So many great true-to-life moments, and a few surreal ones too but definitely a good movie to rent if you haven't seen it! Alan Arkin is funny as hell, and so many good "modern prototype" personalities. Someone please tell me they don't do those freaking mutant mini-pageants anymore... man the parents that put their kids through that... I won't even go there. Anyway, very worthwhile.

PS - Olive kicks Dakota Fanning's butt anyday! What a little girl should be like if you want MO. Dakota strikes me as a little girl trying to be grown up in many of her movies, all wise beyond her years, etc. I mean she's OK but Olive cracked me up.

The DaVinci Code
I didn't read the book so no surprise that I was not as disappointed as many who did. Overall it's a good movie and unlike most 2.5 hr flicks, it moves pretty fast / seems over quickly. I didn't really like the way Hanks' character assimilates so quickly to the situation and the woman, and I think some plot details could've been left out in favor of developing others more deeply, but overall it's worth seeing. Not worth buying IMHO (usually those Tom Hanks / Opie as Director movies are). Also, Ian McKellen does an admirable job as always.

The Good Shepherd
This movie is like Syriana in many ways, aside from the obvious plot comparisons (both about the CIA and covert stuff, etc). It's long and very detailed, and the kind of movie where you really have to pay attention because the timeline is not linear. That said, it IS easier to follow than Syriana because not nearly as many disparate characters are introduced to you as the movie goes along. It's basically the same 3 or 4 cats, shown over and over in different time periods / conflicts. IOW, it's easier to figure out the relationships between people whereas in Syriana, even though the acting and script is very good, you have to watch it at least twice before you really see what the hell is going on.

Matt Damon does a very good job though his character is sort of emotionally stunted so you don't see a lot of emotion displayed; but he does his usual convincing work. Alec Baldwin actually has a fairly major part too and also does a good job; the character he plays was built for him basically. Sort of a shadier version of Jack Ryan from the Hunt for Red October. Won't give more than that away but he makes the movie worthwhile too.

The story to me was a little dry and overdone at points, almost too life-like and so not that exciting or interesting in some ways. I don't know how true any of it is (how much it mimics a real person) but you get a good bit of history lesson to AFA how the CIA came into being. But again definitely worth seeing, especially when compared to a lot of the mind-numbingly bad plots/scripts that are put out these days. Joe Pesce makes a brief appearance too, in what is actually one of the more memorable dialogs in the whole movie.